Know the candidates: WFISD school board trustee at large

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - News Channel 6 is continuing our election coverage on Thursday with a preview of another race you will see on the ballot.

The focus this time is on the at large board of trustee position for the Wichita Falls ISD. We told you on Wednesday that Mark Hood dropped out of the race due to a medical condition.

Wichita County Judge Woody Gossom said it was too late to pull his name off the ballot because it had already been sent out, so while he will still be listed, Sandy Camp is now the sole candidate for the at large position.

Hood announced his candidacy for the at large position in May this year. He said he wanted more transparency over how and why the district is facing a multi-million dollar deficit as well as more support for students and teachers.

On Wednesday, Hood stated he is withdrawing from the election due to medical reasons. That leaves Camp as the sole candidate running for at large for WFISD.

Camp explained her background and experience in education started over 34 years ago. She was a principal, assistant principal, reading specialist and tutor. She retired in 2014, but returned to the classroom in 2020 and currently teaches at Midwestern State University.

“I have a masters in reading education and also I have been an assistant principal, a teacher and a principal, so I have a lot of experience with school law and school budget,” Camp said.

She spoke with me about her priorities should she be elected, which mainly include student success.

“My primary concern is student achievement and I think that should be on everyone’s mind, and so I’m looking forward to working with new staff and looking at new curriculum and things like that for our kids,” Camp said.

Camp said the reason people should vote for her is for her experience in different fields of education.

“Look at my experience in education and experience with school budget,” Camp said. “It’s so different than a regular budget so we need to take a look a that.”

We did ask Gossom what would happen if for some reason Hood ended up with the majority. At this time, it’s unclear what the next step would be.

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